Jay Jaffe: Hey folks, welcome to the latest edition of my Monday chat and likely the first under some fairly trying conditions that we’re all facing. It was moments after last week’s chat that my wife howled, “Oh shit!” at an email announcing the sudden closure of my daughter’s school, effective end of day (she’s 3 1/2, in her first year of preschool). At the time, it was one of those “abundance of caution” things but as the week grew progressively — and aggressively — more surreal, it looks like we were merely a few days ahead of the curve.

Jay Jaffe: I spent the remainder of last week getting up to speed on the COVID-19 virus and its intersection with baseball and other sports, as you may have seen, and I took the lead for our first installment of what will be a daily roundup of the latest news on that front, leading with the news of the first professional player to test positive, an unidentified Yankees farmhand. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/covid-19-roundup-the-first-player-has-test…

Jay Jaffe: My wife and I already worked from home so that part isn’t so difficult to adapt to, but having our daughter underfoot is a challenge. We’re trying to get a bit of help, babysitting-wise, but it’s understandable if people want to isolate themselves.

Jay Jaffe: Over the weekend, in addition to stocking up on food and cleaning supplies, I sprung for a lot of LEGO to help keep us entertained. Maybe that will help.

Anyway, I hope you all are managing out there. Now, onto the questions.

SweetSweetCandy: looks like a june start … maybe later. does this help or hurt any team more than most?

Jay Jaffe: That’s a good question. Both schedule-wise and injury recovery-wise, the stoppage will have an impact that differs from team to team. We’ll be looking at the latter issue in some systematic fashion, I think (it’s been discussed internally), and I know that Dan Szymborski is examining it from a ZiPS playoff odds standpoint as well. That might even be up today.

Eric A Longenhagen: Good morning from Tempe

Eric A Longenhagen: It’s been a weird few days. Most of the questions in the queue are related to the impact of the global pandemic on baseball. Many of them don’t have answers yet, but deserve thought and discussion. The pace of today’s chat may be slower because it’ll likely be about weighty stuff that requires more thought than how hard Georgia Tech’s Tuesday guy throws (vary hard, btw).

Mitch: I have travel plans to go to AZ on Monday. The main reason is to go to the Cubs’ backfields. I can safely assume that those are gonna be closed to the public, right?

Eric A Longenhagen: Here’s one I don’t know. I’m not sure what teams plan to do about minor league spring training games. They aren’t typically what would be considered problem areas but now that there’s no other baseball to watch and people are either here or coming here, they’re more likely to draw bigger crowds and become risky. I think the pace at which all of this is developing means that cessation of minor league games altogether is probably coming. Players travel from all over the world to train here.

Justin: How do you think the disruption and cancellation of seasons and tournaments like the CWS will affect the draft, especially at the top?

Eric A Longenhagen: There are a couple of variables, and this is just my thinking and talking with folks in baseball to this point. 1. There either is or isn’t any amateur baseball to watch the rest of the year. 2. They either move or don’t move the date of the draft (which may depend on what happens with 1.) 3. What the NCAA does about player eligibility and scholarship numbers may impact who wants to declare.

Dan Szymborski: Welcome to SzymChat where the only thing contagious is friendship! And maybe chickenpox.

Outta my way, Gyorkass: Let’s start with the obvious one: Will there be baseball on March 26th?

Dan Szymborski: No

jz: dan,

Dan Szymborski: I haven’t even DONE anything yet.

Outta my way, Gyorkass: Will players be paid their full salaries this season if games do get cancelled, or if they only play, say, 120 games, will players only get paid 120/162 of their salary?

Jay Jaffe: Hey folks, sorry for the delay, which will extend just a few more minutes. I just filed a piece on the Astros’ rotation question marks behind Justin Verlander, who left yesterday’s start with a triceps complaint. Let me get situated and I’ll begin tackling the questions.

Jay Jaffe: OK, i’m back. White knuckle Monday morning spilling into afternoon, but lunch (sushi) is on the way and so are some answers.

Dave: Congrats on your promotion to EIC! What big, sweeping changes will rock the site under your rule?

Jay Jaffe: LOL I was misidentified as the EIC this morning in a tweet promoting my appearance on Chicago’s 670 The Score, but co-host Connor McKnight set the record straight:

Dave Kingman: Are you worried about Verlander (scale of 1-10)?

Jay Jaffe: i’d say maybe 3-4 on a scale of 10. The comparison has been made to his 2015 absence, which lasted into mid-June, but the Tigers appear to have mishandled the initial diagnosis and he also strained a lat during rehab. If I’m throwing out a wild guess before the MRI results come in, I think this points to him starting the season on the injured list but returning by mid- to late April.

Eric A Longenhagen: Morning from Tempe. I’m gonna keep it tight to the hour today so I can, among other things, watch Kiley on today’s ESPN spring training broadcast.

Brendon: Looking forward to the Jays list! What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned after making calls about the system?

Eric A Longenhagen: That aside from Pearson, Roither Hernandez is the hardest-throwing dude in the system.

Vslyke: Curious why Nick Green didn’t make the Yankees list? Not a great 2019, but he was a guy FG had been fairly high on at one time.

Eric A Longenhagen: Could’ve been a 35. Like the ground ball-getting stuff, but two years of command regression on a 24y/o isn’t great

Alan: Likelihood that Franklin Perez debuts in DET this season?

Meg Rowley: Hello all, and welcome to the chat

Meg Rowley: Hope everyone is having a good week amongst all the stressful Real World things – a few baseball-related distractions:

Meg Rowley: Jay wrote about Cole Hamels and the Braves rotation: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/cole-hamels-cranky-shoulder-will-test-brav…

Meg Rowley: Craig has a double feature. First, on the Mets’ outfield situation: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-cardinals-messy-outfield-situation/

Meg Rowley: then on the injuries befalling the AL East: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/injuries-are-throwing-the-al-east-for-a-lo…

Meg Rowley: Also, yesterday Ben Clemens took a look at the dramatic spin spike Trevor Bauer saw last September: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/trevor-bauer-might-have-conducted-another-…